RapidWeaver allows you to easily add Podcasts to your blog entries. Podcasting is an evolving standard that allows audio or video files (most commonly in MP3 or MP4 formats) to be published online in a way that allows Podcast receiver programs - such as iTunes, Transistr, NewsFire and others - to automatically tune-in to them and download the files for playback at the listener's convenience.

When you add a Podcast to your blog entry by clicking the "Add Podcast..." button, RapidWeaver presents a Podcast pane that allows you to drag-and-drop your Podcast media file into your blog entry. You can customize your iTunes tags, set custom RSS tags, and even specify external multimedia files to be used for your Podcast if you choose not to use the Podcast dropbox.

NOTE: In order for Podcast applications to receive and download your Podcasts, you must enable RSS Feeds for your Blog page. Enabling RSS Feeds in RapidWeaver is described later in the Blog Setup section.

Tags: RapidWeaver, allows, you, to

The first step in creating Podcasts for your blog page is to author the audio or video multimedia file you intend to use. A variety of audio and video Podcast creation tools are available, including GarageBand, Podcast Factory, AudioExpress and others. Once you have authored your multimedia file, you turn it into a Podcast by clicking the "Add Podcast..." button. When the Podcast pane opens, drag your media file on top of the Podcast dropbox (found under the "Podcast" tab). When you publish your website, RapidWeaver will automatically export the file to your website as a Podcast.

Blog - Podcast: Podcast Dropbox

RapidWeaver directly supports MP3, MPG, MOV, MP4 (including M4V and M4A variants) and PDF file types for Podcasting. You can add any one of these file types to your Podcast simply by dropping the desired multimedia file onto the Podcast dropbox. However, you may also link to external multimedia files to create your Podcast rather than using the Podcast dropbox by using the "Override default Podcast settings" option found under the Custome RSS Tags tab.

NOTE: Podcasting is merely a specialized implementation of the RSS tag in your blog entry that points to the multimedia file you are syndicating. While MP3 audio files are most commonly used, you may attach other types of files to your Blog including images, movies , documents and more. However, only one multimedia file may be added as a Podcast per Blog entry.

Tags: the, first, step, in, creating, podcasts, RapidWeaver

By default, RapidWeaver inserts the iTunes RSS tags defined in your blog page's Setup... area. These tags are specifically used by Apple's iTunes to to cagegorize your Podcast, describe its contents, assign your Podcast to a channel, and manage other settings.

Blog - Podcast: iTunes Tags

You can add, remove, or change the default iTunes tags by clicking the "Enable Custom iTunes Tags" checkbox and editing the fields on the iTunes tags pane.

TIP: For more information about Podcasting and iTunes, including a complete list of the iTunes tags used by by iTunes, go to Apple's Podcasting and iTunes: Technical Specifications page.

Tags: default, RapidWeaver, inserts, iTunes, RSS

When a Podcast is added to your Blog, RapidWeaver inserts any custom RSS tags defined in the your blog's Setup... area. You may override these RSS tags by using the Custom RSS Tags tab to customize any of the tags that RapidWeaver automatically inserts in your Podcast. Click the (+) button at the bottom of the "Custom RSS Tags" list and add any custom tags as required; to remove a custom tag, select it in the list and click the (-) button.

Blog - Podcast: Custom RSS Tags

You may also override the default Podcast settings on the Custom RSS Tags panel to link to external media files for your Podcasts (rather than using the Podcast dropbox), or to use multimedia types not directly supported by RapidWeaver. Click the "Override default Podcast settings" checkbox to enable these fields and fill in the URL to the media file, specify its size (in bytes) and its file type. When published, the file specified will be linked to your Podcast. For more details, see Podcasting with RapidWeaver in the Tutorials area.
When you are satisfied with your settings in the "Add Podcast..." pane, click the "OK" button to save your settings and close the pane. A dialog box will appear asking if you want to add a link to your Podcast in your blog entry.

Blog - Add Podcast Link

Click "OK" to add a text link to the end of your blog entry, and click "Cancel" if you don't wish to add a link.

Tags: podcasts, blog, RapidWeaver, RSS, tag

Before you can syndicate your blog or broadcast your Podcasts, you must first configure your blog to use RSS feeds, set your default Podcast tags and customize your blog page's options. Click the "Setup..." button in the lower right corner while you are in the "Edit" mode.

The Blog Setup area has six main tabs:

• General - Set Archiving, Permalink and Commenting options
• Categories - Enable and create blog categories
• RSS Feed - Configure the RSS feed for your Blog page
• Date Format - Configure the format of your time and datestamp in blog posts
• Podcast - Set the default iTunes tags and Custom RSS Channel tags for your Podcasts
• Ping - Enable weblog directory/tracking services to keep track of recent changes in your blog page.

When you first click the "Setup..." button, the pane will default to the "General" tab. Click the desired tab to expose the contents of its pane.

Tags: syndicate, blog, broadcast, podcasts, RSS, RapidWeaver

The top section of the General tab contains the archiving options for your blog, in which you can customize the archiving behavior, if used. By default, archiving is active. Disabling it will cause RapidWeaver to keep all of your blog's posts on the same page, growing longer with each blog entry you add. If enabled, archiving will move all your old posts to separate pages, keeping only the current week's or month's posts on the main page, as selected in the "Archive by" popup menu. You can also set the minimum number of posts that must appear on the main blog page before older posts are archived, and whether or not to show gaps in your archived posts.

Blog - Setup: General Tab

The middle section of the General tab allows you to enable Permalinks in your blog and to set the Permalink's link title. If you use summaries in your blog entries, you may choose whether the Permalink points to the summary rather than the blog entry itself by clicking the "Include Summary" checkbox. When published, the Permalink will point to the summary, which will include a Read more... link to the full blog entry. You may also change the Read more... link's wording by typing a word or phrase of your own choosing. This will become the system-wide link phrase when used in summaries in your blog.

The bottom portion of the General tab allows you to enable Comments in your blog entries, allowing visitors to post feedback for your blog posts. To enable blog comments, you must first sign up with Haloscan, a free comment-tracking service for bloggers. Once you have an account, enter your Haloscan username into the "Username" field and enable comment feeds by clicking the "Enable" checkbox. If you want to change the name of the comment feed's RSS link that appears in the sidebar, type it into the "RSS Link" field. Once commenting is enabled, you will see "Comments (0) | Trackback (0)" appear under each entry in your blog. As comments and trackbacks are added, the values in the parentheses will increment. By default a link labeled "Comments Feed" will appear in the sidebar of your blog page. Visitors who click this link will be taken to your user account page on Haloscan, showing all of your visitors comments. You can prevent the link from appearing in your sidebar by removing the text from the "RSS Link" field on the "General" tab.

NOTE: You can manage your comments and the look of the pop-up-window by logging into the members area on Haloscan. Instructions on how to integrate commenting with Haloscan can be found here.

Tags: General, blog, RapidWeaver

By default, categories are enabled in RapidWeaver allowing you to set a category or classification of your individual blog entries. If categories are not desired, you may disable them by unchecking the "Enable" checkbox. If enabled, you may also choose to display the number of blog entries in each category in the sidebar by clicking the "Show Post Count" checkbox.

Blog - Setup: Categories Tab

You can create additional categories for your blog by clicking the (+) button at the bottom of the categories list and typing the name of the new category. To remove a category, click on its name and click the (-) button. You may also arrange the categories in the list by clicking and dragging a category into a new position.
At the bottom of the Categories pane, you'll find a Separator field. RapidWeaver uses the characters in this field to delineate the various blog entry details such as the datestamp, category, and permalink elements (located below the blog entry's title in your blog). The default separator is a 'pipe' delimiter ('|') with a space character before and after it for balance (e.g. ' | '), but you may use a different combination of characters if desired.

Tags: default, RapidWeaver, blog, post, count

You can customize the way the date and time are shown by selecting the "Date Format" tab in your Blog page's "Setup..." area.

Blog - Setup: Date Format Tab

On this pane, you can specify how the date and time are displayed, including separators. As you make changes to the settings, an example is displayed in the lower portion of the pane. To localize the language to that of the one being used by your Macintosh, click the "Localize language" checkbox.

Tags: RapidWeaver, date, formatting

You may create default values for your iTunes tags and any custom RSS channel tags used in your Podcasts. The values entered here will become the default tags for all of your Podcasts, but you may override these values in any Podcast if desired by using the iTunes Tags and the Custome RSS Tags tabs in the "Add Podcast..." pane. When you click the "Podcast" tab in your blog's "Setup..." area, two sub-tabs will be visible: "iTunes Tags" and "Custom RSS Channel Tags". The default view is the "iTunes Tags" sub-tab pane.

Blog - Setup: Podcast: iTunes Tags

To set the default iTunes tags to be added to your Podcasts, click the "Enable Custom iTunes Tags" checkbox and edit the fields on the Podcast: iTunes Tags pane.

TIP: For more information about Podcasting and iTunes, including a complete list of the iTunes tags used by by iTunes, go to Apple's Podcasting and iTunes: Technical Specifications page.

If you wish to add default custom RSS Channel tags to your Podcasts, click the "Custom RSS Channel Tags" sub tab.

Blog - Setup: Podcast: Custom RSS Channel Tags

Use the Custom RSS Channel Tags sub-pane to add any tags not addressed using the iTunes Tags sub-pane, or to add any new Channel tags that may be added to iTunes in the future. As a rule, this should be unnecessary, but the ability to add custom RSS Channel tags remains available if needed.

Tags: RSS, iTunes, podcasts, RapidWeaver

As blogs have come into widespread use across the Internet, blog referral and tracking services have come into being. Companies like Technorati, Postami, BlogPulse and Google follow blogs and keep track of what's important in the blogosphere — which bloggers are commanding attention, what ideas are rising in prominence, and the speed at which these conversations are taking place.

Blog - Setup: Ping Tab

You can configure your blog to ping these blog directory services every time your blog page is updated. To add a service to ping, click the (+) button, type the name of the service and the URL to its "ping" page (the page on the service that accepts pings) and click the "Ping the following blog directories" box. You can also send a ping immediately to any newly-added service by selecting its entry in the list and clicking the "Ping Now" button.

Tags: blog, widespread, Internet, Technorati, RSS, RapidWeaver